Travels and Unexpected Help

    Tsairbi sighs deeply, her eyes lingering on the wisps of rose-tinted clouds. Rays of soft light seep into the damp early morning just as the night shower fades away. Thankfully, Tsairbi and her companion found shelter beneath a rocky outcrop. The dry space was small resulting in her and her companion having to snuggle up to stay out of the cold. Spring might’ve just arrived but remnants of the harsh winter remain during the darkest parts of the night. From experience she knows that it won’t be long till they are gone, but for now especially during early spring showers it is best to take shelter. Tsairbi’s golden eyes drift down to the smaller, fluffy styraco curled up beside her. She unwraps her tail from around the brown and black figure as her companion begins to stir. Soon enough, the styraco’s brown eyes flicker open. It takes her a minute to process her surroundings but with a shake of her crest she splays her front legs out in a stretch. Tsairbi leans slightly away after the head shake, not wanting those horns to accidentally damage any of her feathers.
    “Good morning Callio,” Tsairbi yawns, mimicking Callio who does the same. “Mmm,” Callio responds groggly. She pushes herself to her feet and puts some space between herself and Tsairbi, taking in their surroundings. The jungle remains partially lit by the rising sun, the rest cast in deep shadow. Music fills the air as birdsongs announce the arrival of dawn, the shower from the night before seems to encourage the birds to be more active, or perhaps that is the spring. Tsairbi watches Callio quietly as the styraco surveys their surroundings, she knows how skittish the styraco can be and is patient enough to wait for her to be satisfied before moving about. Once Callio is, the parasaurolophus rises to her feet and moves out from underneath the outcropping. She dips her head to avoid scrapping her crest against it and once free from the confines of the cliff gives herself a full body shake.
  “I don’t think that storm was too bad,” Tsairbi muses aloud, stretching her cramped back leg and giving another light shake. “I don’t think so, I’m glad we found the ledge though. It would've been worse if we had to tough it out here.” Callio responds. She walks over and sniffs a small patch of budding flowers before taking a nibble. “Any good?” Tsairbi watches Callio who shakes her head sharply looking a bit disappointed. “No, we should go find some real food. Are we almost to where you wanted to go?” Callio asks. She turns towards Tsairbi and walks up to her side, the para waits and begins moving southeast. “Hmm somewhat, we are a smidge over halfway there.” Tsairbi says and Callio frowns up at her larger friend. “Wherever this is is awfully far, we’ve been walking for over half a day already.” Concern lines Callio’s voice and is punctuated by her glancing over her shoulder. Tsairbi smiles comfortingly and lowers her head to be more eye level with Callio. “I know, I know. Thank you for coming with me.” She says, nudging her friend lightly with her snout. “I thought you would enjoy some of the celebrations for the spring. I know where many herbivores are gathering for a larger party, for songs and dances. Many have even made what they call ‘instruments’. It’s very fascinating.” Tsairbi explains, even though she has said so already when she first asked Callio to travel with her. She’s hoping that, hearing it again, will ease the natural worrier that Callio is and help her look forward to the eventual party.
    “Yes… I don’t have to be around too many people, do I?” Callio asks softly, her brown eyes meeting Tsairbi’s briefly before looking back at their path. Tsairbi smiles and a small rumble of laughter echoes through her nasal chamber. “No, no. You can stay back if you want and I’ll stay with you.” Tsairbi nods, giving her another comforting tap with her snout. Callio smiles and looks more confident as the two make their way through the jungle undergrowth. As they walk there is a mix of silence and small conversations. When not scoping the shadows for dangers they share stories and ask how each other have been. Due to Tsairbi’s nomadic lifestyle she isn’t always around Callio’s home, in fact she hasn’t seen Callio since winter began and that is one of the reasons why she made sure to invite Callio out this way. That, and she knows Callio doesn’t get out much.
    During their travelling things are peaceful, it isn’t till late morning that the duo comes across someone else. Tsairbi and Callio pause as a very loud, and very snotty, sounding sneeze comes from just off their path ahead of them. The sound is so sudden and loud that Callio squeaks and jumps back, Tsairbi cocks her head at the noise and looks in the direction it came from. “Was that a sneeze?” Callio whispers hesitantly, sidestepping to Tsairbi’s side. “I believe so,” Tsairbi says, “Let us see who it is.” To Callio’s dismay Tsairbi begins walking towards the source of the noise. The brown and black styraco shuffles behind Tsairbi, her  body tense and ready to respond, meanwhile Tsairbi looks completely unbothered and more curious than anything. She confidently and calmly pushes through the ferns and bushes until she sees who had sneezed. A smile crosses her mouth and she looks down at the familiar form of a blue and white feathery carno. Callio, not being as high up as Tsairbi, doesn’t see the carnivore till she pushes a wide-brimmed leaf to the side and comes face to face with it. She cries out in alarm and scurries backward, tripping on a root and fumbling before relocating herself behind Tsairbi’s tail. Tsairbi can’t help it, she laughs a little and only stops when she feels a sharp poke of Callio’s nasal horn in her tail. “Sorry,” she sighs, turning her attention back to the carno below her. “Hello Yeti,” Tsairbi lowers her head to sniff the carnivore.
  To Yeti’s credit she doesn’t yell or scream at Callio’s frantic reaction, and simply smiles up at Tsairbi, sideways and goofy as ever. “Oh, hey Tsairbi.” Yeti sniffs deeply, a clear line of snot leaking from her nose. Yeti lies splayed out on the jungle floor, a look of miserable hopelessness on her face. Dirt and dampness taint the soft colors of her feathers and her normally crystal blue eyes are cloudy. “Looking like shit there friend, what happened?” Tsairbi lays down in front of Yeti who has begun trying to sit up. The movement is awkward and a bit funny as she struggles to do so, eventually she manages to get onto her haunches and huffs, then sneezes. Tsairbi dodges the spray but otherwise is unbothered by it. “Ah well it’s springtime and this always happens. It’s kind of worse right now though and I’m not sure why? Woke up and now it’s hard to breath and I can stop sneezing and I got nasty stuff coming from my eyes and nose. Just awful.” Yeti explains, hardly giving herself a minute to breath between the words. “It’s getting hot to boot and I hate the heat, you know how I hate the heat, and all these feathers make it worse. It’s just awful Tsairbi I might die out here. This could be the end of me.” Tsairbi rolls her eyes at that and snorts playfully at Yeti.
    “You’re being overdramatic again Yeti- also you don’t need to talk so fast.” Tsairbi gently reminds her friend who dips her head apologetically. “My bad, my bad sorry I just get- ya my bad.” Yeti grins sheepishly, showing her teeth sends Callio back into a startled state. She was becoming curious and creeping out from behind Tsairbi, but now she darts back to her hidden position. Yeti doesn’t seem to notice. “You got something to help me maybe? I’m miserable, I can hardly breathe.” Yeti pleads to the para looking at her with begging eyes. “I figured you’re a smart uh, healing person or whatever they’re called. I was actually out here looking for you.” Tsairbi nods slowly as she listens, she was wondering why Yeti was in the jungle of all places and this explains it. “Herbalist is the proper term, and of course I’ll help Yeti.” Tsairbi nuzzles Yeti’s face gently which earns a worried squeak from Callio. Tsairbi stands to her feet, listening as Callio shuffles to reposition herself, and examines Yeti a little more closely though she’s confident in what ails her. “Sounds like you just have some bad hay fever-”
    “I haven’t been around any hay? Wait, hay can give you a fever?” Yeti gasps at the realization but Tsairbi quickly corrects her. “No- hay fever is just what some people call allergies. Seasonal allergies. The pollen from the plants is probably causing you to have a flare up of mucus- snot.” She quickly adds, seeing Yeti’s confused face. “Rain can worsen the effect especially in the mornings. Hold on, I can give you something to help…” Tsairbi trails off as she moves away from Yeti and amongst the plants. She sniffs the ground as she moves her way about, not far away from Yeti she finds what she’s looking for. A tall plant stands amongst rounded leaves, almost like lilypads in shape, the taller brown plant has a stiff stem and smaller stems reaching off all sides of it. Pinkish-purple blossoms have begun to bud. Tsairbi deftly bites some of these stems off and carries them over to Yeti. Both Callio, who had followed Tsairbi, and Yeti watch Tsairbi closely. “What’s that?” Yeti asks, eyeing the plants warily. “Butterbur. It will help clear up your nose and even your eyes.” Tsairbi explains through the mouthful. She drops it gently at Yeti’s feet and watches her expectantly. “... I’m not supposed to eat that, am I?” Yeti eyes the plants and looks at Tsairbi, almost pleading for the answer to be no. “Yes,” Tsairbi says simply. “Make sure to chew it really well, into a kind of paste if you can. Don’t worry it won’t hurt you and I promise you’ll feel better in no time. Yeti looks like she’s about to cry. Tsairbi knows well how bad medicinal plants can taste, for both herbivores and carnivores, but if Yeti wants to feel better she has to eat it.
    Tsairbi isn’t one to push however and so she sits back down, patiently waiting for Yeti to get the courage to eat it, or for desperation to make her do so. Tsairbi isn’t sure which one it is but Yeti eventually does eat the butterbur. She gingerly picks the plants up in her jaws and begins chewing. Tsaribi can tell how miserable the taste must be, but Yeti pushes through it and after chewing it for a long time swallows. “I regret this.” Yeti gags and Tsairbi laughs. “You won’t in a few minutes. Drink plenty of water and rest, you’ll feel better soon I promise.” Tsairbi rises to her feet and shakes a few droplets of water off her feathers. “We must get going now, take care Yeti. I'll come visit you soon.”
    “I’ve been wanting to ask but who’s your friend? Kind of shy aren’t they?” Yeti says now taking an interest in Callio. This Callio clearly doesn’t like it as she nervously brandishes her nasal horn and presses into Tsairbi’s flank. “A friend of mine, a companion in my current travels. She’s a bit shy and wary.” Tsairbi explains as Yeti gets to her feet and moves to go around Tsairbi. Tsairbi quickly heads this off and steps into Yeti’s path with a gentle smile. “No, Yeti. I know you want to say hi but she isn’t a fan of others, especially carnivores.” Yeti’s eyes droop and she looks genuinely sad by this. Tsairbi comforts her with a nudge. “Maybe another time. Go drink that water and have a good springtime celebration ok?” Yeti nods slowly and backs off to Tsairbi’s relief. “You too, sorry friend of Tsairbi didn’t mean to scare ya I promise I’m a friend and such. Maybe another time ya? When I’m not so disgusting either.” Yeti chuckles at her own joke and moves off a bit sluggishly. “Bye Tsairbi and friend of Tsairbi!” She calls, which is followed by another sneeze. Tsairbi chuckles and looks at the worried Callio. “Why did you help that carno? Do you know them? They could’ve hurt you.” Callio growls quietly, eyeing the direction the carno went. Tsairbi knows Callio is not a mean person by nature, but her fear can make her act a bit harshly. “I know them, yes, they’re a friend. Don’t worry Callio, I can handle myself.” Tsairbi tries to comfort Callio but she can tell her friend is still on edge. For now, she knows it's best to just move away. “Come on Callio we have a party, good food, and better music to get to.” She nudges her friend lightly on the flank and begins moving off. Callio watches the direction Yeti went for one more moment before catching up to Tsairbi.